On Saturday the 22nd of September, the paint may have still been drying, but the gallery was done and the studio as a whole was looking better than ever. As soon as we opened our doors, guests from all over southeast Michigan and far beyond poured in to check out our “leaky tree house”. Our Open House for the Detroit Design Festival was a smashing success. Heads were bobbing and tail feathers were shaking to the hot styling’s of Flint Eastwood, the Hand in the Ocean, FTHRSN, and DJ Croyboy. It was great to see people hanging out way past closing time to talk and fowl.

If you came out on that grey late September day to celebrate, we thank you and hope you come out to the next one. If you didn’t make it, then we can’t wait to see you next time.

Check out the album in our photo gallery to see tens of thousands more words worth of images. Special thanks goes out to all our friends who came to help sweep, screw, mud, hammer, paint, and generally get the place ready for the big night.

Thanks to: Agnieszka Spieszny, David Arnold, Matt Bisset, Tim O’Donnell, Matt Rhodes and Stephanie Lucido.

The CCDC kids will be opening the studio to the public during the Detroit Design Festival to show what we’ve been up to for the past year since we first stepped into the Toys Warehouse. We will be giving tours of the space and showcasing art in our new gallery for our Open House. Later on in the night we will be having live music and a DJ to keep the party going with food and beverages. Make sure to stop by our place on Saturday, Sept. 22 from 2-10pm.

See you in a couple of weeks!

A little bit about the DDF from their site:

DDF is powered by Design in Detroit, an online platform that allows individuals and institutions across Southeast Michigan to engage, connect and partner with Detroit’s creative, entrepreneurial community to encourage social-economic change in the city of Detroit.
Presented by the Detroit Creative Corridor Center (“DC3”), DDF is a community curated and supported design festival developed to showcase the talents and abilities of Detroit’s creative communities. The DC3 established DDF to connect creatives with one another, expose them to new markets and consumers, and expose Detroit’s creative talent and collective design aesthetic to national and global audiences. It is a call to action for the community to solicit, support and execute ideas using retail, technology and design to improve quality of life in and around Detroit.

Summer Breeze is now up at Belle Isle shining brightly and swaying happily. The kids at CCDC would like to thank all of you that came out and supported us. It was a great first project that really got us excited about future projects. Check out the pictures we took in our Gallery.

The big weekend has arrived. The fabric has been cut, sewn, dyed and strung. Now all that’s left for the project is for it to be enjoyed. Tomorrow is the big opening and we hope you will come to check out all the art on the island. We will be hanging out by our installation on the Public Beach from 2pm ’til sunset doing a little grillin, a little fowling, and a little swimming.  Come celebrate summer in Detroit!

Below is a map of the work you can find on the Island. We’re number 10. The show will be up until June 29th – so if you can’t make it to the party, try to come during the week.

Hope to see you there!

the CCDC kids

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The blueprint we worked off of at the CCDC studio that has finally been made into a reality.

We’re almost there! We’ve manage to cut, sew and dye in the past couple of weeks. We will be hanging “Summer Breeze” this week for the opening this Saturday June 23rd. Check the fb event page for more details. CCDC will be having a BBQ on the beach near our installation to celebrate, so come on out to eat and party with us!

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We’ve been busy getting our materials ready to be installed at the Public Art Exhibit on Belle Isle at the end of this month. Today we cut about 90 yards of fabric and had two sewing machines up and running to do some practice stitches. This Tuesday our friend Angela Michelle, fabric and dye expert, will be coming in to the studio to give the CCDC kids a proper tutorial on how to dye.

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We are installing a piece on Belle Isle’s Beach near the old water-slide, where you can take in the skyline of Detroit while dipping your toes in the water. On all of Belle Isle this area is definitely the most hoppin’ in the summer…except of course where the donks of Detroit are parked.

The piece will incorporate the themes of summer, sun and wind. By taking pieces of fabric, hand dying them with a color gradient and stringing them through the trees along the beach we hope to give Belle Islanders a fun piece of summer to enjoy. There is going to be over 135 feet of cutting, dying, sewing and tying in the next month so stay posted.

Our intial sketches that we sent with our proposal (details/length of installation has changed):

Someone’s been drawing on chalkboard lately and it’s been a nice break from the computer, that’s for sure. There’s an immediate satisfication in making type instead of pushing it across the screen. My Aquarium piece has also been selected to be showcased at the Belle Isle Aquarium which is pretty cool. They are looking for work to be put into the tanks to be displayed during the Grand Prix on June 1-3.  So if you have any artwork you want to show, hurry up and send an email to BelleIsleAquarium@live.com!

See below for more chalk…

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CCDC had the awesome opportunity to be featured on WJR’s radio show “Destination 313″ hosted by Paul W. Smith and Stephen Piazza.

The show is dedicated to showcasing Detroit‘s jewels and improving the region through thoughtful conversations with those committed to seeing Detroit‘s revitalization. The show features business leaders, community advocates and everyday citizens who are enthusiastic and passionate for taking the lead in our city’s transformation.

Listen here to hear Katie, Matt & Nathan talk on the show!

With things moving at such a rapid pace, the studio is really beginning to take shape. We have a lot of things in store for this summer and so we’ll be launching a CCDC Newsletter, called “Eat More Cake” to keep all of our followers informed. We are working on getting a sign up form up on the site shortly, so keep a watch out for that!

♥ CCDC kids